Well well, here we are again on another quick tour of the South China Sea. But this time there is a difference... we have wind and we're moving! (Don't say that Rob, you'll jinx it!) After a delay for GoToBermuda to get over their stage-fright and a last-minute dodge around a big ship, Cap'n Rich of WTC Logistics managed to cajole all 11 boats into a straight line for a Le Mans start in the dark. Was this a first for the Clipper Race? It certainly reminded us why we normally start races in daylight.

Purple Ronny made a reasonable start, then initially made up ground on the boats ahead before suffering an inexplicable and extremely frustrating lack of speed through the night. Shortly before dawn we hoisted the Kite, and have been inching* our way back to the pack ever since. The fleet is still tightly bunched, with only 6nm covering all 11 boats.

The race rules of this triangular course allow each boat to compete in two of the three Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint legs, and Imagine your Korea has chosen not to compete in this first (Westward) sprint. Instead we are concentrating on integrating and developing the six new crew joining us for Leg 6. So far that is going very well, they were all keen enough to come down to the boat and help with cleaning and maintenance before the official crew changeover date, and are settling quickly into the routine of life onboard. They are being helped in this by the experienced crew and by the weather which so far has given us gently challenging conditions - ideal for training.

*= Yacht racing terminology: "inching" is a more traditional, but faster way of making up ground on other boats than "millimetering". In fact it is 25.4 times faster, and that's why we're doing it.

Cheers, Imagine your Korea